SmittyFL Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Wouldn't that be a great headline for the next Front Site. I did a search and didn't see any threads on this topic. I've heard rumors about trying to make IPSC and Olympic sport but never anything solid. It sure would be great to see our sport represented. Does anyone have any insight into whether we've ever seriously tried to get it in? Why it was turned down? Especially our forum members from outside the US, I'm not sure of all the gun laws, and if that is the main problem. Or it the main problem is image. Maybe a Steel Challenge type format, if is more exciting to watch than IPSC and it seems to have some international interest. I know they have the rapid fire thing, but thats not even close to what we do. What do ya think? Smitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 I think this would be about the best thing that could happen to our sport. Being in the olympics seems, for whatever reason, to legitimize a sport. And you have to admit there are some realllll odd sports in the olympics. I am not sure the olympics are set up anymore for the local audience. I think they are aimed more at the TV audience. The local audience and the money they drop in the host city is what gets a city to compete for the games but the real money is in the TV coverage. With remote cameras in bullet-resistant enclosures IPSC could be just as marketable on TV as many of the other sports. I personally think there is room for a Steel Challenge format, a standard pistol based IPSC and 3-Gun. IMHO...for our sport to be Olympic material we MUST avoid all "tactical" stuff, humanoid targets, shooting from military vehicles, yada yada yada. Make it clear from the get go that this is a GAME...not war games or training for taking out the bad guys. It is who can make the best hits in the shortest period of time. Biathalon has militaristic roots, which are almost never spoken of on TV, but now it is seen as just a pure sport that happens to involve guns. Yet, it get a good deal of coverage every time the winter olympics rolls around. I think the first step toward this goal must be better TV coverage. If it takes getting IPSC into the ESPN X-Games then so be it. A 10 minute, poorly produced segment on American Shooter isn't what we need (Sorry JimS...just my opinion). Hopefully the coverage due out this fall will be better and the stuff that Michael Bane is working on (for OLN if my memory isn't failing me) will help as well. ESPN used to cover the shooting sports. I remember seeing our host and TGO square off at some event somewhere on ESPN. I think it was probably Bianchi. Sure, it was non-primetime but it was coverage and people were watching it. We MUST include segments in that coverage that tell people how to get involved. I was mesmerized watching BE and TGO shoot but had absolutely no clue where to go to get started doing this. Ever see how much time ESPN devotes to the "Timber Sports"? Log rolling, tree climbing, chainsaw events, etc? We ***COULD*** have just as much, or more, time. Once we have an audience that the olympics feel that they can market to then they will entertain the idea. That is what the "demonstration" sports at each olympics are all about. How many sponsors will it attract for how much TV viewership. Do you think Curling would be an olympic sport now if they had to pass this test? Sure, any TV coverage at the olympics will be on some minor network with maybe, if we are lucky, a few minutes of condensed coverage by the major networks. Then they could hire our host to be the "color commentator". Now just how cool would that be...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 An article in a recient copy of ISSF News has the Olympic Committee proposing a reduction of the number of shooting sport events for the coming Olympics. IPSC in its current form I'd dare say will never make it in the Olympic games. Matter of fact, there has been a fair amount of talk about the elimination of all shooting sports that use gunpowder as a propellant. The often maligned World Shooting Federation (headed by IPSC President Nick Alexakos) was attempting to work towards this very goal but ran into a great deal of resistance from the ISSF and the Olympic Committee. It's a great idea that I fear will NEVER see the light of day unless there is a change of heart by the ISSF, the Olympic Committee and IPSC themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPiatt Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 This "Bad guns" mentallity has gone so far as rumors that the 2004 Olympics will be the last of the "gun powder" games. After that it will be strictly air guns. rumors, rumors, rumors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 All you have to do is obtain a copy of a fairly recient ISSF News magazine to see that the "rumors" MAY have a bit of truth to them. Hopefully not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 The UK is trying to get an Olympics sometime around 2012. After the messing around that involved getting handguns into the UK for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, I can see them using that as an excuse for trying to remove real hand guns so that they will not have to upset some of the more left leaning that will certainly bleat like old sheep at the prospect of having to accomodate a sane and sensible sport. How the hell can synchronized swimming and Ice Dancing be a Sport. Anything that has points for artistic content is ART, not SPORT. I bet Warren Sapp would love to be scored on his artistic content every time he flattens a Quaterback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishlad Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Be careful what you wish for! The Olympics have kept alive such sports as ISU skeet and trap, but the numbers of participants is small and being an "Olympic Sport" has done little to 'attract' additional shooters. But, as mentioned, it did keep them alive with funding and they continue to 'search and select' certain shooters to make the team. Most of the team members in the past have come from the Army and/or Colorado Springs training center. Being an Olympic sport means being television friendly and in general a business. There are and continue to be changes in the shooting format that speed up, reduce the number of shooters, reduce the number of targets, etc that may or may not enhance the sport. But, if you want to remain in the Olympics, you will make those changes regardless of the effect on the sport. Keep in mind the Olympic set up also affects the other venues, i.e. World Championships, etc and the Olympics is only every 4 years. You might find, if action pistol could actually be in the Olympics, that the changes required might make your sport very different than what you intend. I've read many threads on this fine forum about rules, formats, classes, etc and you have a pretty tough crowd to satisfy everyone. You might not like being 'told' how you will modify your sport. Just some thoughts, which are opinions only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentm Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 i agree that you'd have to give up too much of the essence of ipsc to get it into the games....well at the moment probably Bianchi cup match is more the thing you could slip right in B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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